The Federal Trade Commission announced Jan. 10 that it will hear oral arguments next month on motions filed by the FTC and the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board. The LREAB in November filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed against it by the FTC, while the FTC filed motions for partial summary judgment and for opposition to the LREAB's motion to dismiss.

About one in 10 banks are considered high credit risk, a significant drop from 2010 when 42 percent of banks were high-risk, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported Jan. 10 in its credit survey, according to ABA Banking Journal. However, the survey identified new credit risks, including some affecting commercial real estate.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency allowed the government-sponsored enterprises to each retain $3 billion in capital, a policy change agreed to in late December that enables Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to maintain reserves for the first time since 2008, HousingWire reported Dec. 29.

Net lease cap rates are expected to increase this year anywhere from 25 basis points to 50 or more, according to respondents who participated in a survey conducted by commercial real estate firm The Boulder Group, GlobeSt.com reported Jan. 3.

Seventy-eight percent of commercial/multifamily firms expect originations to increase this year, and approximately half reportedly are planning to increase originations by at least five percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2018 CREF Outlook Survey released Jan. 4.

James L. Murrett, MAI, SRA, of Hamburg, New York, will begin his one-year term as president of the Appraisal Institute on Jan. 1. The Appraisal Institute is the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers with nearly 19,000 professionals in almost 60 countries.

Fairfield County, Connecticut, is the priciest office market in the U.S. with an average cost of $17,414 per workstation, according to the Office Space Across the World report released Dec. 8 by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Other top cities: San Francisco; New York; and San Jose, California.